


Strange Magic

by MedieavalBeabe



Category: X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Brownies, Crushes, ELO Song, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Inspired by Strange Magic (Film), Kissing, Kurt Is Very Sweet, Nyctophobic Reader, Strange Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-12
Updated: 2019-10-12
Packaged: 2020-12-13 22:03:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21004874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MedieavalBeabe/pseuds/MedieavalBeabe
Summary: You are a winged Mutant who suffers from nyctophobia; a fear of the night, due to some deep set childhood traumas. One night, though, Kurt takes you out to experience how beautiful the night can be...





	Strange Magic

**Author's Note:**

> I was listening to the ELO song Strange Magic, the version from the film Strange Magic, and when I remembered that Alan Cumming plays Nightcrawler in X-Men 2 and also voices Bog in Strange Magic, I just had to write this, since there just aren't enough fanfics about Kurt Wagner out there! Also, I’m using the version they play in the film so no complaints that I’ve got the words wrong or anything, please!
> 
> By the way, I haven't written Kurt's dialogue as dialect because I am hopeless at that kind of thing, and because I hear his accent as German in my head whilst I'm writing him even though on paper it comes out in English, so if you guys can't use your imaginations then that's not really my fault. Sorry.

You were unusual, for a Mutant, that is, in more ways than one. For a start, there was your Mutation. Yes, winged Mutants were a thing, but you didn’t have angel wings, or bird wings, or even dragon-like wings. Yours were like giant butterfly wings, only they were unlike those of any butterfly that you’d ever seen, because they were bright purple and so large that you had to lower them down in order to get through any doorways, folded flat against your back, although you’d been doing that since you were six so you were well used to it by now.

Your personality was kind of unusual too. You were neither introvert nor extrovert; you were good friends with all the Mutants your age that attended the Academy, you hung out with them and yet at the same time you were perfectly comfortable in your own space. You didn’t have a best friend as such, instead you loved Scott, Jean, Jubilee, Ororo, Peter and Kurt equally – well, actually, truth be told you had a little bit of a crush on the sweet blue German Mutant – and would gladly hang out with all of them at once, or just one at a time.

And then there was the fact that you couldn’t sleep in the dark.

For you, the concept of night was a scary thing. Thankfully, Charles was understanding enough to install a dimmer switch in your room so that you could slowly desensitise yourself to sleeping in full darkness, although your phobia was so great that so far you’d yet to turn it down even a single notch in your eleven years at the school, and the curtains were always shut the second the sun started setting. In fact, you generally had your lamp and the fairy lights around your bed on too, so anyone who wandered into your bedroom in the dead of night, when the rest of the lights in the mansion were off, got a bit of a shock of how bright it was in your room.

Like tonight, for example.

You’d snuck down in the dead of night, torch in one hand, hockey stick in the other in case some thief or worse tried to jump on you and were busy rifling through the fridge for a midnight snack when the light suddenly snapped on and you jumped, flew back a few paces and spun around with the stick in your hand.

“Whoa!” Kurt held up his hand. “It’s just me!”

“Kurt!” You let out a laugh of relief. “Switch that off, otherwise the Professor’ll be on us in a shot!”

Kurt does what you say and moves closer to you. “What are you looking for?”

“Something that doesn’t have “Property of Peter Maximoff” written on it.” You eventually dig out a plate of brownies you bought a while back. “These have been here about a week, shall we risk them?”

Kurt’s only too happy to chance the brownies, and the two of you manage to sneak back to your room unseen. He blinks as you open the door, shielding his eyes with one hand. “Wow! It’s like a day at the beach in here!”

You laugh and climb onto your bed, patting the space beside you. “You’ll get used to it in a bit, come on.”

Kurt joins you. “I had no idea your phobia was so bad.” You shrug, your mouth too full of brownie to respond. Kurt also takes a brownie. “But then, I guess that’s why they call you “Butterfly,” not “Firefly.”

You chuckle. “Or Moth, after all, they come out at night.

Kurt takes a bite of brownie. “Can I ask...how did it start? I mean, why do you fear the night?”

You hesitate. “I guess lots of things started it really. When I was three, my older cousins used to tell me scary stories and they all took place at night, and they were all about people kidnapped or tortured or followed home and robbed. When I was five, I got lost in this dark mirror maze at the fair and got chased through it by this really creepy guy. I couldn’t find my way out for ages. Not long before I came here, I went on a camping trip with my family and got lost, and by the time they found me it was so dark I couldn’t even see a hand in front of my face.” You shake your head. “I kept hearing all sorts of weird noises in the night I couldn’t place. It’s scary when you don’t know what’s around you.”

Kurt nods. “So, that’s why you never want to go to late night movies with us? Or go stargazing?”

“If I want to see the stars, I can just look in a book,” you reply.

“What?” Kurt looks at you incredulously. “No way is that the same as being outside to see them! What about meteor showers? You can’t see them in a book!”

“Well, if they happened during the day, I wouldn’t have to worry.”

“If they happened during the day, we wouldn’t be able to see them!”

You shrug again. “Really, Kurt, I don’t feel like I’m missing out on much.”

“Well, what about those times when we celebrate after a mission? When we make a fire and have drinks and music outside at night? You miss out on all that.”

“I celebrate in my own way. You know...up here, couple of cups of punch, a book...and my ELO record.”

Kurt shakes his head with a grin. “Alright, Fourth of July, fireworks...”

“Kurt, what is this?” You challenge. “An intervention?”

“A what?”

“You know, when a group of your friends gather around and try to make you admit you’ve got a problem...are you trying to make me not afraid of night time?”

“If I wanted to do that, I’d just drag you outside,” Kurt mutters, munching on brownie. “That is, if I thought you’d let me.”

“I’d go kicking and screaming,” you grin.

Kurt cocks his head on one side, watching you thoughtfully. “How long has it actually been since you were outside at night?”

For the third time, you shrug. “Well over ten years.”

“Whoa!” Kurt gets up. “That’s a long time! You should try it now.”

“Wha-?” You blink at him. Kurt likes trying new things and be quite impulsive, so this shouldn’t really take you by surprise, but it does. “Go outside? Now?”

_“Ja,_ now!”

You laugh. “I’m quite comfortable where I am, thank you.”

“Oh, come on, _(Y/N),_ otherwise you’ll turn into one of those crazy ladies who never goes out and yells at people when they pass her house and has, like, a billion cats!” He’s grinning, so you know he’s joking, although the prospect that your phobia might actually affect your life like that in the future is kind of a scary concept.

You shake your head. “Really, Kurt, I don’t think facing my phobia head on is the way to do it.”

Kurt blinks and then shrugs. “Okay.”

You frown, surprised he gave up so quickly and reach for another brownie, but before you can grab one Kurt snatches up the plate and bounds over your bed. You quickly scrabble up as he opens the window, thinking he’s about to throw the brownies out of there. “Kurt, what are you doing?”

“You want the rest of these; you’ll have to catch me first!” In a BAMF of black smoke, he’s gone. Ignoring the fact the open window is letting the night into your room, you rush to look out of it and see him below on the grass, holding up the plate.

“Kurt!” You hiss, the only level you dare raise your voice to for fear of waking the rest of the mansion. “Half of those are mine, you little thief!”

“So come and get them!” he calls back up.

You look for something to throw at him, but there’s nothing at hand. Then, you realise you’ve been standing in your room at night with the window open for almost three whole minutes.

You step back, debating what to do. You should just shut him out, forget about the brownies, they’re not that important and it’s not like Kurt can’t get back in if he’s locked out. On the other hand, a tiny part of you wonders if maybe he’s right, maybe it is time to face your fear.

After all, it’s been eleven years...

You look back out at him. He’s still in the same position as before, holding up the plate. Then, you look around the grounds. They’re fairly well lit. You can see Kurt fairly well. You can do this.

You’re going to do this.

“Just get out, get the brownies from him and get back in again,” you mutter, hopping up on the windowsill and spreading your wings. Kurt watches in awe, as usual, as you spring lightly from the balls of your feet and let your wings, and the air, carry you down to the ground. You touch down within a foot of him but before you can say anything, he BAMFs away again. You stare at the space where he just was, bewildered. “What? Kurt!”

Then, he reappears right in front of you and you jump back. “See?” He grins. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

You look around, trying to remind yourself that you’re still on familiar ground, you’re still within the safety of the school even if it all looks, sounds and feels different at night. The trees rustle eerily and you shiver. “I’m going in.”

“No, come on, you just got out here!” Kurt protests.

“This is enough for me.” You turn to go back in but something grabs your leg. Frowning, you turn and see Kurt still standing there, it’s his tail that’s wrapped itself around your ankle. You sigh. “Kurt, let me go, please.”

“Aw, come on, just stay out with me one more minute?” Kurt makes the kind of adorable face that you can never resist. “Please..?”

You give in. “Okay. One more minute, and then I’m going in.”

“Great!” Kurt unwinds his tail from your leg. “Ooh, we should go to the roof!”

“The roof?”

_“Ja,_ you’ve been up on the roof before, haven’t you?”

“Um, yeah, in broad daylight.”

“What, are you afraid one of the statues will come to life or something?” Kurt teases.

You shake your head. “You’ll be sorry if that really happens. Come on, then.”

Kurt BAMFs away again. You seriously consider rushing inside again, but he is your friend and you kind of promised him. And it’s only one more minute. Besides, you realise, as your wings lift you up again, in the air being outside at night doesn’t feel so bad. You land up neatly on the roof, Kurt already there as you knew he would be, sitting cross-legged near the edge. You join him and he points upwards. “Look.”

You look up and gasp. Out here, the stars look so bright, so close that you could almost touch them. There are so many of them, so many more than you’ve ever seen in pictures. “Oh...wow...that’s better than any book...”

“Told you,” Kurt smirks.

“You did not,” you counter, pushing him playfully. Kurt responds by teleporting to the other side of the roof, challenging you to chase after him. And you do so, him BAMFing from place to place as you speed after him as fast as your wings can go until they’re tired and so are you. Giggling, you pause on the edge of the roof, but your feet slip and you gasp as you fall...and then Kurt’s tail grabs you and pulls you back up again.

“Are you alright?” he asks, concerned.

“I’m fine,” you smile. “I can fly, remember?”

“Sorry, I guess I forgot for a second,” Kurt grins, sheepishly. Your wings flutter a bit then, because he’s acting so sweet again and that always stirs something inside you.

_“You’re waking meadows in my mind,_

_“Making waves across my tide,_

_“Oh no, oh no...”_

You begin to wonder if you should tell him, after all, you’re good friends, you hang out together a lot, it’s possible he might feel the same way. You’re still debating with yourself when Kurt breaks the silence. “It’s been way more than a minute, you can go in now if you want.”

You look around, reflecting that all Kurt’s playful antics actually made you forget your fears for a while. “Maybe we can stay out a bit longer...”

Kurt brightens up at once. “Really?”

“Yeah, let’s...explore this place.”

_“I got a strange magic,_

_“Oh what a strange magic,_

_“Oh it’s a strange magic,_

_“Got a strange magic...”_

You fly down to the ground, skimming over the surface of the grass. Kurt follows, teleporting alongside you as the pair of you make your way towards the trees. You touch down and he points to something above you. You squint and realise it’s an owl, no, two of them. You’ve never seen one this close in real life before, it’s kind of breathtaking.

_“You’re sailing softly through the sun_

_“Of a land I’ve always known,_

_“You fly so high...”_

Kurt teleports up into the midst of the trees, beckoning you to follow him. You fly up with some apprehension. In the midst of the trees it’s darker than before and when a branch catches your arm, it completely puts you off and you lose your nerve. Embarrassed, you flutter back to the ground, but then Kurt BAMFs onto a branch not far above your head and offers you his hand. Feeling bolder, you take it.

_“I get a strange magic,_

_“Oh what a strange magic,_

_“Oh it’s a strange magic,_

_“Got a strange magic...”_

Your hand in Kurt’s, he pulls you up and tucks you against him, folding your wings flat so they don’t snag on any branches and then teleports you up higher. You look around, impressed by the beauty of the night.

_“Oh I..._

_“Never gonna be the same again,_

_“Now I’ve seen the way it’s got to end,_

_“Sweet dreams, sweet dreams...”_

The two of you become bolder, venturing further out until you’re way past the school and in the heart of the nearby town. You allow yourself to fly through the empty streets, revelling in the feeling of being able to do so without colliding with anyone or causing any kind of disruption, Kurt BAMFing from building to building beside you.

“_Got a strange magic,_

_“Oh what a strange magic,_

_“Oh it’s a strange magic,_

_“Got a strange magic..._

_“Got a strange magic...”_

The moonlight reflects on the puddles, turning them silver. You’d never before appreciated the night was something to be fascinated by rather than feared. The pair of you sped through the town, racing one another, although you knew Kurt was going to win.

_“It’s magic,_

_“It’s magic,_

_“It’s magic...”_

To put him off, you stop mid-air. Kurt hesitates, frowning, wondering what you’re up to. You smirk and then backtrack the way you just came. “Hey!” Kurt laughs before following you back to the school.

_Got a strange magic,_

_“Oh what a strange magic,_

_“Oh it’s a strange magic,_

_“Got a strange magic..._

_“Got a strange magic...”_

You settle on the highest branch of the tallest tree in the grounds, breathless. A second later, Kurt joins you and shows you a flower he picked from somewhere. You can’t tell what it is in the dim light but it looks beautiful. You blush as he slides it into your hair.

_“It’s magic,_

_“It’s magic,_

_“It’s magic,_

_“It’s magic...”_

The pair of you sit in silence for a moment, catching your breath. You reach up and touch the flower, gently. “Thanks, Kurt.” You hope he knows you’re not just thanking him for the flower, but for helping you, for giving you the courage to be out here now. Though you’re still a little apprehensive that someone could be lurking around a dark corner, suddenly the night doesn’t seem as frightening as it did a few hours ago.

Kurt wriggles his shoulders. “You’re welcome.”

You look over at the school and sigh, your own shoulders falling. “I guess it’s silly to be scared over something like this for so long.”

“No.” Kurt insists. “Everyone’s scared of something. But you can’t let it stop you from doing the things you want...otherwise, you’d never do anything.”

“How do you cope?” you ask, shuddering slightly.

“Well, I think it helps when you’re out with someone else, or a group of friends, you know...” Kurt shrugs. “Safety in numbers.”

“You’re right,” you murmur, realising he is. You glance him. “I did feel safe with you just now.”

Kurt shifts closer to you, nervously, and before you can even register what’s about to happen, he’s kissing you. You’re startled, too startled to respond right away, and he pulls away quickly, looking worried. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that-!”

You lean back in and kiss him this time, cutting him off, and you can practically feel him blushing. His tail snakes around your waist, sending your wings fluttering again. You smile as you pull away, seeing him looking kind of flustered before he finally smiles back at you.

_“(Y/N),_ will you be my girlfriend?”

“Only if you tell me where you hid the brownies.”

Kurt laughs and kisses you. “Okay, I actually put them back in your room.”

“Then why don’t we go there and finish them off?” You tease. “Race you there!”

For once, Kurt gives you a head start before he BAMFs onto your bed, covering his eyes. “Argh, I’d forgotten about the bright light! It burns!”

You laugh and close the window, only because it’s starting to get cold now, before switching off your lamp. “Better?”

“A little.”

You hesitate before going over to the dimmer switch and adjusting the light a bit. Kurt stares at you as you bring it down enough so that you two can still see but dark enough that you could fall asleep. _“(Y/N)_...are you sure..?”

“I think so.” You go and sit next to him on the bed. “But...could you stay with me anyway tonight, just in case?”

Kurt nods. “Of course.”

Wrapped snugly under the duvet with him, you close your eyes in a darkened room for the first time in years, although in all honesty the darkness isn’t so scary when Kurt is around, especially when he’s holding you tightly. There’ll probably be a bit of teasing in the morning, of course, mainly from Peter, he’ll make some joke about a butterfly and a blue elf producing blue butterfly offspring with pointed ears one day, but you don’t care. Night is still a bit scary but now that you know you don’t have to face it alone, the prospect of it is starting to become more alluring.

“Maybe I should change my X-Men name to Nightwing or something,” you muse.

“That’s what they’ll start calling us anyway,” Kurt murmurs sleepily against the back of your neck. “I’m Nightcrawler, you have wings...”

You smile. “Yeah, sounds like something Peter would come up with.” You adjust yourself more comfortably. “Hey, Kurt?”

_“Ja?”_

“Want to go to a late night movie tomorrow, just us?”

Kurt smiles and hugs you closer. “Well, I was going to ask you that, but _ja,_ I would love to.”

Yes, if you’re not careful, night might just soon become your favourite time of day.


End file.
